The solution, IBM Watson Care Manager, will aggregate patient data from multiple sources--including wearable devices like the Fitbit, smartscales and Apple's HealthKit and ResearchKit offerings--into the cloud, which providers can then view.

The ever-increasing amount of health data collected by a person over time soon will need a home, and that means a need for data management systems that give individuals control over their personal health information, according to Eric Topol,

Kaiser Permanente engages 45 percent of its more than 9 million members through online portals, which provide secure physician-patient email and access to KP HealthConnect, a comprehensive electronic health record to empower patients to manage care.

A contact-free sensor system placed under a mattress to monitor continuous vital signs has proven its value to the Veterans Administration, which tested the solution on more than 1,000 patients with spinal injuries.

Benefits offered by telemedicine "must be measured against the risks and challenges associated with its use," the American College of Physicians states in a position paper published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Overreliance on its electronic health record system was one of the mistakes Texas Health Resources made that led to the misdiagnosis and release of a patient later confirmed to have Ebola, according to a report from an expert panel convened by the Dallas-based health system.